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The New York Times announced that they will be raising a paywall for the digital edition of one of the world's most popular publications today. This will require users reading online, or on a iOS (or any other device) to pay a monthly subscription fee. The new service will allow users to access twenty articles per month for free. After that, users will be required to purchase a digital subscription in order access newspaper content. Digital Subscription services will launch on March 28, 2011.

The announcement notes that if a user is already a home subscriber, they will have access to the digital edition as well. For non-home delivery subscribers, one can pay 15$ per month for access to NYTimes.com or through a phone app. Tablet users will have to pay an additional 20$ per month for access. There is also a combined 35$ subscription for unlimited access on any device. That plan would bring the total price for digital subscription to over $450 per year.

It will be very interesting to see how successful the New York Times will be in requiring subscriptions for their content. With a fairly steep yearly asking price, they may find trouble wooing subscribers. It should also be noted that thirty percent of the subscription fees will go to Apple, as is the case for all in-app subscriptions.